UPDATES WITH CUMULATIVE FIGURES IN JANUARY – AUGUST PERIOD
By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) – Turkish Treasury's cash balance recorded a deficit of 3.72 billion Turkish liras ($648 million) in August, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance announced on Friday.
Last month, the Treasury's cash revenues totaled 75.5 billion Turkish liras ($13.2 billion), up 18.5 percent year-on-year, while expenditures — including interest payments of 8.4 billion Turkish liras ($1.46 billion) — rose 29.4 percent to 79.7 billion Turkish liras ($13.9 billion).
In August, the Treasury's non-interest expenditures amounted to 71.3 billion Turkish liras ($12.4 billion) — a 4.2-billion-lira ($730 million) surplus in the primary balance.
The Treasury collected 500 million Turkish liras ($87 million) worth of revenue from privatization or fund income — including transfers by the Turkish Privatization Administration, 4.5G license payments, land sale revenues — in August.
The cash balance of $648 million represents the Treasury's cash revenues plus privatization and fund income minus expenditures, including interest payments, in August.
The average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 5.74 last month.
– Cumulative figures
Official figures showed that the Treasury received 498 billion Turkish liras ($113.7 billion) in cash revenue while expenditures totaled 544 billion Turkish liras ($124.2 billion) from January to August.
In the eight-month period, the Treasury's non-interest expenditures were 497.5 billion Turkish liras ($113.6 billion) — a 526-million-lira ($120 million) surplus in the primary balance.
Interest payments totaled 46.5 billion Turkish liras ($10.6 billion) — the top contributor to the deficit — while privatization/fund income amounted to nearly 4.7 billion Turkish liras ($1 billion) over the same period.
As a result, the eight-month cash balance posted a deficit of some 41.3 billion Turkish liras ($9.4 billion) between January and August.
Last year, the Treasury's cash balance ran a deficit of 60.4 billion Turkish liras ($16.5 billion). The 12-month revenue plus privatization or fund income amounted to 636.6 billion Turkish liras ($174.5 billion), while expenditures in 2017 — including interest payments — surpassed 697 billion Turkish liras ($191 billion).
The eight-month average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 4.38, while one dollar traded for 3.65 liras on average in 2017.
